Hamas terrorists commandos attempt a landing on Zikim beach across from an IDF army base near Gaza and exchanged fire with IDF forces.

Police take cover in engagement with Hamas infiltrators on Zikim beach/REUTERS

IDF units intercepted a Hamas commando unit that sought to infiltrate Israel from the sea at Zikim Beach, just north of the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.

Soldiers killed several terrorists, and pursued at least one more, security sources said, stressing that they were speaking as the incident continued to unfold.

A senior security official said an IDF detachment was dispatched to Zikim Beach after the military detected suspicious movements in the area. The unit engaged the terrorists, and shot and killed five of them. One soldier was lightly wounded in the exchange of fire.

Civilian eyewitnesses told Channel 2 that soldiers ran toward the beach from the Zikim Army Base and fired their weapons, as a boat approached from the Mediterranean sea and men on board fired at the beach.

Police closed off the vicinity and told residents of Kibbutz Zikim to stay indoors.

Izzadin Kassam, Hamas’s military wing, claimed on its Twitter account responsibility for the attack, saying that it “stormed the Zionist naval base on the shores of the sea.”
Reuters contributed to this report.